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Creative Industries

Let me correct the hon. Gentleman: I am not handing over the role of sponsoring the creative industries to the Arts Council. I am saying that there is a synergy between the creativity that comes out of the funding in the Arts Council and the development of successful businesses in the creative industries sector. The Arts Council has come very successfully through a radical funding round—I applaud the way in which, on the whole, that has been managed—and it will clearly be taking time to reflect on how it makes progress. No doubt, the hon. Gentleman, I and other hon. Members will be engaged in discussions with it on its role in a fast-changing world. Our enterprise capital funds are supposed to meet the gap in the equity market, which is a particular issue for the creative industry sector. The Chancellor announced an extra £150 million in three further rounds to establish more capital funds. I am really pleased that the UK Film Council will be submitting a bid in that round. I will now touch on intellectual property, which is of key concern to the creative sector. To support those industries and others, we need a balanced IP framework, which is relevant to today's world. We need to encourage businesses to develop new business models—only they can do so—that recognise and exploit the changes in technology. We also need the right tools to tackle IP crime, and we should continue to improve the education and understanding of IP. We should also recognise that, with changes in technology, there is a massive democratisation of information, which is hugely powerful to the industry and to society. So we must strike a constant balance between those objectives in the public domain. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform will shortly consult on legislation that will require internet service providers and rights holders to co-operate in taking action on illegal file sharing, with a view to implementing that legislation by April 2009. That reflects a definite change of tone by the Government. Although, of course, we prefer a voluntary approach—we encourage all partners to seek one—we also have to underpin it with action if necessary. We will not hesitate to act if we need to. The UK Intellectual Property Office has also put in place a plan of action on IP enforcement. The report mentions a range of things that it will do, including a fake-free London campaign in the run-up to 2012, a national centre of excellence on tackling IP crime, the establishment of a forum between Ministers and industry to keep the issues under review and voluntary enforcement funds to try to get more action on behalf of the police.